Chickens used in the kaparos ritual before Yom Kippur are swung over people’s heads three times and then killed in Crown Heights, Brooklyn on Monday.

Scores of chickens set to be used in a controversial pre-Yom Kippur tradition died from starvation over the last week after being left in small crates in several Brooklyn neighborhoods, according to animal rights activists.

The poultry used for the Jewish kaparos ritual are brought from farms in small plastic transport carriers that are gathered in Borough Park, Crown Heights and Williamsburg.

"It is animal cruelty," said Rina Deych, who has been fighting against the practice for 20 years.

"It is breaking Talmudic imperatives and laws from the Torah," she added, noting the Torah prohibits the suffering of animals.

The group — United Poultry Concerns — sued four rabbis, several Hasidic communities and the city in July 2015. The case is pending on appeal after a judge initially ruled against the activists.

They argued in the suit that city officials "aid and abet" the "barbaric" practice by blocking off streets and sidewalks and not enforcing city and state laws that regulate health and animal cruelty issues.

Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind said community leaders have met to discuss humane, sanitary ways to conduct the ritual.

“We know it is important not to cause animals any pain,” he said. “There will always be somebody who does it incorrect. But generally people are doing things in the right way and not causing people to be upset.”

Animal activists say many of the chickens die in small crates due to starvation and have urged the city to enforce animal cruelty laws.

(Donny Moss (TheirTurn.net))

“I wish they’d show concern for the innocent people being murdered in Aleppo right now,” he said. “Some people are just obsessed with this and can’t fathom this is part of the tradition that goes back to Europe. Tradition is very important.”

The Orthodox Jewish lawmaker acknowledged the Torah prohibits the suffering of animals.

“There’s a way to pick up a cat and hold a dog,” he said. “You do it the wrong way and you are causing pain. People are trying to do it the right way and they are.”

Animal activists contend the chickens’ wings are injured as they are raised above the people’s heads.

“You are not allowed to handle animals in a cruel fashion according to state law,” Deych said.

A spokeswoman for the American Society for the Prevention of the Cruelty to Animals said the group is not involved in any investigations related to kaparos, but sent a statement saying it is “opposed to any practice in which animals are made to suffer in the name of religion or tradition.”

The tradition has long been a matter of dispute.

Rabbi Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, the author of the Code of Jewish law, and several other major rabbis were strenuously against the ritual, saying it was a “foolish custom” with no basis in the Torah.

But a group of Kabbalists believed the custom had a mystical importance as part of the redemption process during the High Holy Days.